The Cupboard Is Nearly Bare At The Local Foodbank

Call for help from Brentford, as demand has tripled in recent months

Hounslow Community Foodbox is appealing to Brentford residents to urgently donate food as it is very short of supplies, due to rising demand for its foodboxes.

There are also increasing requests for help from people living in Brentford and Isleworth. 

The foodbank, which is based in Brentford, says demand in general has tripled over the past year, but has increased so much in recent weeks that at one stage they had very little food on their shelves. Volunteers went out and raised money to buy food at shops themselves as donations fell so low.

Hounslow Community Foodbox was set up in 2013 because the Council provided an unused community centre as a storage and collection point. 

The reason for the unexpected shortfall is because the demand from referral partners has more than trebled in the last four months and is far in excess of what they anticipated.

A spokesman said, "We are able to provide support only three times in any twelve months. This means that the surge in demand is overwhelmingly coming from the referrals of new clients."

FoodBox operates on a voucher system, with recipients being given a voucher by one of FoodBox’s referral partners. Recipients can then exchange this voucher for a food package.

FoodBox’s referral partners are professionals or volunteers working in the community such as children’s centres, Citizens Advice Bureau, GPs, housing associations, Jobcentre Plus and London Borough of Hounslow Housing Strategy and Solutions, and Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.

Referral partners complete a FoodBox voucher form for the recipient, emailing it to FoodBox and giving a copy to the recipient.

Food packages contain non-perishable essentials such as pasta, rice and tinned food. The food package should last the recipient and their household around three days. 

There have been some wonderful donations in the last few days but more donations of both food and cash (cheques payable to Hounslow Community Foodbox ) are needed on a regular basis.

South Street Cafe in Isleworth is now collecting food again - outside the cafe during opening hours.

A crowd funding appeal has been set up by Alex Cole to raise £500. The total currently stands at £837

If you require Bank details or wish to volunteer or donate please contact HCF on 07719891787

May 30, 2017